Feral Saturations: Unveiling Colonial Memory Through the Asian Clam investigates the River Lea's industrial and ecological history via the Asian Clam (Corbicula fluminea). Employing "saturation" ¹ as a methodological framework, the project transforms archival research into tactile, time-intensive photographic processes. It reimagines data as a living, layered, and speculative medium that confronts the toxic legacies of industry and colonialism embedded in London's rivers.

In the late 19th century, the River Lea played a crucial role in London's industrialisation by providing drinking water, transporting imported goods, and carrying away waste. However, this activity led to significant contamination and sediment pollution. One notable example of this issue is the invasive Asian clam, which was accidentally introduced through global trade routes. This species illustrates the concept of a "feral effect"² —a non-human entity that has been shaped by its interactions with human infrastructure, such as trade routes, yet is now beyond the control of those who originally established that infrastructure. Today, as the clam filters the river's water, it accumulates traces of heavy metals, minerals, and pollutants, which are physically manifested in its shells. This accumulation reflects the polluted history of the river.

Building on Melody Jue's concept of "saturation"³ as a method for acknowledging the co-presence of phenomena and understanding narratives in their multiplicity over time and space, Feral Saturations: Unveiling Colonial Memory Through the Asian Clam activates these traces by utilising clam shells in soil chromatography. The process reveals the contaminants filtered by the clams, providing a speculative exploration of the river's layered histories, while the photographs created through this method challenge conventional photographic practices.

The resulting work is presented as a data archive, with "photographs" compiled into a book whose covers are made from paper created by grinding clam shells. This paper mimics the properties of archival paper, evoking the white shell as a metaphor for whiteness, colonial power and erasure.

Through tactile processes that require physical intervention and time—from the grinding of shells to the meticulous steps of soil chromatography—the project confronts the complexities of London river's history.

¹Jue, Melody. Saturation: An Elemental Politics. Duke University Press. 2021. ² Swanson, Heather. Anna Lowenhaupt. Tsing in conversation with Heather Anne Swanson [Podcast]. Feral Ecologies: Infrastructures and Modes of Intervention. TBA21 on st_age. 2022. Available at: https://soundcloud.com/st_age/feral-ecologies-infrastructures-and-modes-of-intervention. ³Jue, Saturation.2021.